Darkness Hearts
by Lady Rouge the Elf
Summary: Sora has betrayed me...now it's time for my revenge.' The darkness in Riku's heart is slowy taking over.Nothing can stand in his way, not even Ansem. When the time comes, will Sora have the strength to defeat his friend? Or will Riku Destroy him first?
1. Default Chapter

ONE

_Darkness……overwhelming……can't see……can't……breath………_

I awoke suddenly, gasping for breath. No matter how hard I tried, I could not breath; my lungs felt like they would explode.

"It's all right; take it easy" I looked up at where the voice came from, and saw a person in a black hooded cloak standing above me to my left. The person put their hand over my face, and I began to breath more easily.

"That's more better, isn't it?" I slowly sat up and looked at the person curiously.

"Who are you? Where I am?"

"Easy now; you still haven't recovered from that last attack"

"Attack? That's right…those shadow things pulled me into the darkness…Sora tried to save me… oh my god, Sora!!" I said, and jumped up quickly.

"Sora! Where are you!! Sora?!"

"He can not hear you"

"What do you mean? Where's Sora!"

"He's not here"

"What have you done with him?" I said, and grabbed him by the collar of his cloak.

"I have done nothing with him, he left all on his own"

"Left? Where did he go? Answer me!!" The hooded figure said nothing; instead, he began to laugh as though what I said struck him as funny.

"He is in another world. A world far from here. A world that is overrun with darkness"

"Darkness? You mean like the thing that swallowed me?" Again he said nothing, but turned and began to walk in the opposite direction.

"Hey, wait up!" I yelled, and ran up beside him.

"You still never told me who you are, and where I am" The hooded figure pointed straight ahead of him into the distance. I looked in the direction of where he was pointing, too see a breathtaking sight. A huge castle with a symbol I have never seen before lie in front of us. It was like something you'd see out of a fairy tale, expect in real life.

"Welcome, to Hollow Bastion" He said, almost proudly.

"You mean, that's where we're going?!"

"Unless of course you want to be transported back to Destiny Island" Not waiting to be left behind, I quickly followed him to an old fashioned looking elevator. The elevator didn't have any buttons in it, instead it had a big spiky sphere set in the right corner.

After I was in, the hooded figure placed his hand on the sphere, and the elevator began to move slowly upward. The ride was over just as quickly as it had begun, and we were now standing at the top of a landing that lead to the castle. We past a little pond on our left, and walked around a corner on our right; and now, we were standing before the castle.

Now that we were closer, it looked to have grown about ten more stories up, practically blocking out what little light there was.

"We mustn't waste anymore time; I have a guest waiting here who has been dying to meet you" With that, he walked into the castle without stopping for me. I quickly followed him inside, taking in as much of the outside that I could.

Once inside, I was overwhelmed by the castles huge exterior. Two staircases were set on either side of the room, connected with a fountain set in the middle of them. Chairs and tables with little statues lined the upstairs walls, as well as a number of doors.

Just then, a woman appeared from one of the doorways, and slowly made her way down one of the staircases.

"Ansem, how many times must I remind you to be prompt?"

"Sorry Maleficent, our guest arrived later then I expected"

"Ansem? So, the mysterious hooded guy does have a name" Maleficent looked at me and smiled.

"Not also is he late, but he's funny. How cute. Now then, why don't you tell us your name boy?"

"It's Riku"

"Riku is it? I suppose it will do…" She turned and looked at Ansem disgustedly.

"For heavens sake Ansem, take that filthy cloak off, you weren't raise with a pack of wolves were you?" She spat, and headed back to her room.

"Who died and made her queen…" I said under my breath.

"You'll get used to her after a while, don't worry"

"I hope so…I didn't run away from my parents to be bossed around by another adult" Ansem laughed, and removed his hood. His hair is long and silver, just like mine, but his eyes are so much wilder then mine. They're the color of an orange fire blazing uncontrollably.

"Now then, I suppose you're hungry; I'll inform one of the chefs to make us some dinner. Until then, I'll show you around the castle" He led me up the staircase, and into a room at the end of the hall all by itself.

Rows upon rows of bookshelves lined the walls, and a staircase on the right side spiraled up to anther floor that was also lined with bookshelves.

"It's amazing"

"All the worlds knowledge is held in this very library"

"Seriously?"

Yes. Although, it would take one ten years to read them all" Ansem made his way back to the door, but I stood glued to the spot.

"I'll show you to your room if you'd like"

"I think I'll stay here for now"

"I'll call you down for dinner then" He said, and closed the door behind him. I looked around the room wandering where I should begin. I stopped at the nearest shelf, and began to read some of the book titles, hoping at least one would catch my eye.

Most of the titles were in different languages, none of which I understood. I picked up one that made the most sense to me, and suddenly heard a click coming from the upstairs. I put the book back in its place, and walked up the stairs cautiously.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but I checked around just in case. The bookcases up here were in different languages as well, no surprise. The last bookcase I came across was actually in English, finally something I could do to pass the time. All of the books on this case had some form Darkness in the titles; quite odd for a normal library…

"Huh? What's this?" I said, as I picked up a new looking book.

" '_How to harness the darkness within'…_" I took the book and sat down in a nearby chair, then opened the book and began to read it.

" '_People say, that light is the most powerful of the elements, but they are wrong. Darkness in its simplest form is enough to kill people. If one were to learn how to harness the darkness within their hearts, they could conquer worlds. Everyone has darkness in their hearts; but there are few of those who can master the darkness. These people, shall one day accomplish great feats of evil…' _"

"Riku?" I jumped suddenly and closed the book.

"I didn't mean to scare you. Dinner's ready"

"Th-thank you. I'll be down after I put this book away" He nodded his head, then walked down the stairs and out of the room. I eased myself up slowly and crossed the room to the bookshelf. I looked at the book one last time, and carefully put it back, making sure to remember exactly where I put it.


	2. Chapter 2

Two

I walked into the dining hall to find Ansem and Maleficent all ready sitting at the table talking quietly.

"Sorry I'm late" I apologized, and took a seat across from Maleficent.

"It's quite all right; we haven't started yet" With that, four chefs appeared from the kitchen, holding four huge silver platters. They set them down in front of us, removing the lids at the same time.

On one platter, were a variety of fruits; on another, there was nothing but vegetables, on the third and fourth, held meats. I was so hungry, that I didn't even notice what I grabbed from the platters. I stuffed as much as I could into my mouth, and literally ate like an animal.

"Slow down Riku; no one's going to steal you food" I looked up at Ansem and Maleficent, and felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"I'm just really hungry, I haven't eaten anything for days now" I said, gulping down some chicken.

"Have as much as you want, there's plenty" Maleficent said, laughing a little. After dinner, we all headed back upstairs to sit and talk in the library.

"So, Riku, tell me; how is it that you came to this place?" Maleficent asked, and sat down at a desk.

"I don't know. One minute, I'm talking to my best friend, and the next, I'm being devoured by darkness and wake up here. It's all too confusing"

"All will become clear, don't worry Riku" Ansem said.

"Don't worry? My friends are in totally different parts of the universe, and you're telling me not to worry?!" I said, trying to keep my anger under control.

"There's no need to raise your voice"

"I'll raise my voice if I damn well please! Tell me where my friends are, or I'll slit your throats!!" Ansem stood in front of me, laughing all the while. He waved his hand in front of him, and sent me flying backwards into a bookcase.

"And just how in the seven hells do you plan to do that?" He knelt down beside me, and lifted my chin up so I was looking him straight in the face.

"You can't even defend yourself from one of my basic attacks. How then, do you plan on fighting me?" He said letting go of my chin, and stood back up. I stood up slowly and shakily, and stared at him challengingly.

"I'm afraid of nothing"

"You don't even know what the true meaning of fear is boy. If you went through half of the things I went through, then you'd understand what fear truly is"

"And I suppose you know everything?"

"You try being in the darkness as long as I have. If you survive, then you'll understand the true meaning of fear…"

"I am not afraid of the dark"

"We shall soon see" With another wave of his hand, I was down on the floor again, breathing heavily once more. Nightmarish dreams and images floated through my mind; it was like some horrific nightmare that I couldn't wake up from.

The images began to spin faster, until they swirled together to form something. Once the colors stopped spinning, I recognized what they were forming: Destiny Island.

It was nighttime, just like when I had left. I walked up onto the beach, and looked around at the peaceful setting. Just then, Sora and Kairi come running from the direction of where we had met at earlier that day.

"Sora! Kairi! Thank goodness you're ok!" I had spoken too early. Sora fell face first into the sand and was slowly being engulfed by the darkness. Kairi ran as fast as she could towards me; but it was as if she couldn't see me., and stumbled over my feet, landing backwards on the sand.

"Kairi? What's wrong? What's happening?" No matter how loud I yelled out for her, she would not answer me; it was as though I were a ghost.

"Stay back!" She screamed at an invisible enemy. A few moments later, a moving darkness took hold of her ankles, causing her to scream out. I ran up to her and tried to grab her hands; but they just slipped through mine. I could only stand and watch in horror as the shadows dragged her in further.

"KAIRI!!!!!!!!" I ran after her though I knew it was a useless effort. As I came across the veil of darkness that was pulling her in, I began to wander if this is what Ansem had meant…I dismissed the thoughts, and picked up a nearby rock.

"Let her go!!" I yelled, and threw the rock right into the middle of the darkness. The rock passed through it like passing through a mist, thumping on the ground just some feet away. Despite the fact it wasn't working, I continued to throw more rocks; and anything else I could find, at the darkness.

"I said, let her go!!" I had run out of rocks, but I couldn't give up. I ran up to the darkness, and tried as hard as I could to pull her free from its grasp.

"Kairi, hang on, I'll get you out of there!" I grabbed for her hand, but it still slipped through mine.

"Kairi, don't give in to the darkness, you've got to try and grab my hand!" Every fabric of my being was beginning to panic; I knew there was nothing else I could do to save her…

"You're on to talk" I turned around, and saw Sora staring at me as though I were murdering Kairi.

"Sora! You've got to help me! She's going t-"

"To die? And by your hands no doubt"

"Sora? What are you talking about?! I'd never kill her!"

"Liar…what do you think you're doing to her right now?"

"I—"

"Murderer"

"I haven't killed her!! I'll never kill her, you know that!"

"MURDERER!!!!"

"NO!"

"Leave here, and never return!!" Out of nowhere, a sword like object appeared in his hands, and he held it above his head. A bright beam of light shot out of the end of it into the night sky, causing me to shield my eyes.

"Banish this evil Darkness from the good of the Light!" He brought the beam of light down directly at me, causing me to be flown into the darkness.

_The darkness is in every direction_... _it's suffocating me like a thick, black water_… _everywhere I_ _look…it's black…Kairi……I-……please……someone………help………m……_

The boy has suffered enough, wake him up 

**No…he can endure a little more……**

**I said, wake him up!!**

**What's the rush? A little more darkness won't hurt him.**

**It will kill him! Wake him up!! **

Voices…? Where are they coming from…they sound so close, yet so far away at the same time… He's not breathing!! 

**He'll be fine, don't worry**

Who's not breathing…are they talking about me? I feel……fine…… 


	3. Chapter 3

Three

"You could have killed him"

"Yes, but I didn't. The darkness inside his heart is even stronger then I thought it would be" I heard them talk in the hallway. I turned my head towards the door, and listened as well as I could.

"He may even be the one whom the book spoke about. The one person, who will accomplish a great feat of evil, and claim all worlds for darkness" I brought my head up off the pillow, and listened closer.

"Perhaps…"

"I shall train the boy as soon as he is well again"

"Just don't kill him again"

"Don't worry, I'll try not to" Their voices died down, and the door to my room creaked open.

"Ah, you're finally up"

"Felling any better?" I sat up slowly, and nodded my head.

"Yeah, a little. What happened?"

"It was a test"

"A test? Of what?"

"To see if you could handle the darkness. You did a lot better then I thought you would. One day, you could even learn how to control the darkness, I'm sure of it"

"Control the darkness? Why would I want to do that?"

"For power to control all life forms at your will; to be the strongest human in all the universe"

"Thanks; but no. All I want to do, is find my friends, and be back home"

"I'm afraid that's not possible"

"Not possible? What do you mean?!"

"Your little island was overrun with darkness, and to put it simply; it got destroyed" My heart stopped suddenly as I pictured everything be destroyed. My family and friends were still on the island, there's no chance that they could have survived…

"However…two of your friends left the island unharmed" I looked up at Maleficent surprised.

"Sora and Kairi! Where are they? I want to see them as soon as possible!"

"Riku, instead of seeing your friends, why don't you stay here for awhile, and train with us?"

"Stay here and train?! I don't want to!"

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice really"

"What do you mean?!"

"Just like you were thrown into a different world, your friends were as well. At the time being, we have no way of telling just exactly where they are. So you see, you're stuck here until we can find them. Why not train in your spare time?"

"Give me one good reason to, and I'll think about it" I said coldly, and got up and left the room. I walked back into the library, and headed up the stairs to where I was before.

"Riku? May I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure" I said, and tried to cover up my annoyance.

"I didn't want to tell you this just yet; but I know where your friend is"

"You do?! Who is it?"

"The boy, Sora was his name?"

"Where is he? Is he ok?"

"He's in a place called Traverse Town. He's doing fine, in fact, I've heard he's made some new friends"

"That's just like Sora. He makes friends quickly"

"I can take you there if you'd like"

"Of course I would!"

"Good then, follow me" I followed here out of the castle to where the little pond was at that we had passed earlier.

"Now then; close your eyes and do not open them until I say so" I followed her instructions and closed my eyes quickly.

"All right, you can open them" I opened my eyes, and quickly noticed that the scenery had changed quite dramatically. We were now standing in the middle of a street of a little town. The houses and different shops that lined the streets looked almost identical. The people that were walking along the sidewalks had huge smiles on their faces; this was without a doubt the calmest town I've ever been to.

"Now Riku, I must tell you something before you find your friend"

"Yes? What is it?"

"You're friend…he's replaced you with his new friends; he's all butt forgotten you"

"Sora would never replace me, we're best friends!"

"If you don't believe, then find him, and see for yourself" Without saying another word, I turned and left. I wandered down streets, and dark alleys thinking about what she had told me. Was it true, had I really been replaced? No, Sora would never forget about me, we're best friends…

A sign that read Third District on a door appeared before me suddenly. I opened the doors easily, and was shocked to see Sora walking around in the street below. Feeling the joy rise inside me, I quickly ran down the steps to where Sora was.

Just then, some shadow creatures appeared in front of Sora blocking his way of escaping. Thinking fast, I jumped at them, and destroyed them all easily.

"There you are. What's going on?

"Riku!" Sora yelled happily, and started to pull at my mouth kid like.

"Hey, hey cut it out"

"I'm not dreaming this time, right?"

"I hope not. Took forever to find you"

"Riku! Wait a second, where's Kairi?"

"Isn't she with you? Well, don't worry. I'm sure she made it off the island, too. We're finally free…hey, she might even be looking for us now" Just then, something behind me caught Sora's eye; whatever it was, he seemed to be afraid of it.

"We'll al be together again soon. Don't worry. Just leave everything to me, I know this-" With that, Sora jumped behind me, pulling out the same exact object he had in my dreams, instantly killing the shadow creature. I turned around just as he was putting the sword on his shoulders, smiling triumphantly.

"Leave it to who?" He said cockily.

"Sora, what did you-" Before I could finish my sentence, two weird creatures walked out of the shadows and stood behind Sora.

"I've been looking for you and Kairi, too, with their help"

"Who are they?"

"Ahem. My name is-" the shortest of the creatures went to say, but was cut off by Sora.

"We visited so many places and worlds, looking for you"

"Really? Well, what do you know? I never would have guessed"

"Oh, and guess what? Sora's the Keyblade master. Who would've thought it" The tallest creature said.

"What's that mean!" Sora said, turning his back to me. I noticed the Keyblade in his hand, and took it from him, looking at it amazedly.

"So, this is called a Keyblade?" Sora turned back around, and stared at me speechlessly.

"Huh? Hey, give it back!"

"Catch" I threw it at him hoping he would miss it, but to my surprise, he caught it perfectly.

"Ok, so, you're coming with us, right? We've got this awesome rocket. Wait 'til you see it!"

"No, he can't come!" The smaller one said.

"What?!"

"Forget it!"

"Oh, come on! He's my friend!"

"I don't care!" Not wanting to listen to Sora and his new creature friends argue, I walked down a nearby alleyway so I could listen to them.

"He's gone" I heard the taller one say"

"Riku? Nice going. Oh, well. At least he's okay. And who knows? Maybe we'll run into Kairi soon, too" Their voices trailed off as they entered one of the nearby shops. I slipped out of the alleyway, and walked up to the window. Sora and his friends were accompanied by three others. They were talking about something important, I'm sure of it. The glass was too thick, and couldn't listen in on the conversation.

Just then, I heard footsteps behind me, and turned to see maleficent walking towards me. She stood by me to my right, and looked through the window, laughing slightly.

"You see? It's just as I told you. While you toiled away trying to find your dear friend, he quite simply replaced you with some new companions. Evidently, now he values them far more then he does you. You're better off without that wretched boy. Now, think no more of him, and come with me. I'll help you find what you're searching for…"


	4. Chapter 4

Four

I threw open the doors to Ansem's room, and stormed in angrily.

"Riku? Whatever seems to be the matter?"

"I'll tell you what the matter is!! My best friend just replaced me with two aliens!!"

"Aliens? I'm afraid aliens don't exist Riku, you must have been seeing things"

"I was not seeing things!!" I yelled, and pounded both my fists on his desk.

"I know what I saw, I'm not going crazy!" Ansem was silent for a moment or two, then looked up at me with questioning eyes.

"What did these so called aliens look like?"

"I don't know…they kinda looked like mutated animals…"

"Ah, I see…" He said as he got up and walked over to the window.

"Now that you've found your friend, are you still eager to return home with him?"

"Not…really…"

"Have you thought about what I said earlier?"

"Yeah, a little"

"And?"

"I'll do it; I'll train with you. I'll become the next master of the darkness" Ansem said nothing, but walked back to me, and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Excellent choice. We'll begin in five minutes by the little pond out front. Come prepared, and don' t be late" Without saying another word, he left the room.

"Come prepared? I don't even know what to prepare for…"

Five minutes seemed to have pass by faster than a heartbeat, and I found myself once again beside the pond. Ansem was standing beside the pond at one end, and I was standing beside the other end, waiting for his first attack.

"Your first lesson, will be quite easy. All I want you to do, is dodge a couple attacks"

"Piece of cake, bring it on" Instead of coming at me, he stood where he was, and lifted his hands to eye level. A black shadow ball appeared in each of his hands, and sent them both at me.

I sidestepped the first one, and rolled out of the way of the other one easily enough, only to stand up and come face to face with a third one. I stumbled around blindly, then tripped and fell backwards.

"You're not concentrating! Get up, and try it again!" I immediately stood back up, and prepared myself for another attack.

This time, he threw five shadow balls at me all at once; I managed to avoid the first four perfectly, but the last one slashed my right cheek badly.

"Focus! Don't let a little scratch like that blind you!" He sent more shadow balls at me, but there were too many of then to count; all I could do was try and avoid them.

After what seemed like hours, my energy was rapidly depleting, and I felt like giving up tight then and there. I closed my eyes for no more then a second, and instantly felt some shadow balls slam into me.

I fell backwards, and hit the ground lifelessly. Again my lungs felt like they would explode, and breathing became harder once more. I heard footsteps fall beside me, and opened my eyes slowly.

"What are you doing boy? Get up, we have much more work to do"

"I…Can't…"

"What do you mean you can't?" He said, and tapped his foot impatiently.

"I…don't…have any…energy…" Ansem started laughing, and held his hand out for me to take. I put my hand in his, and he helped me to my feet.

"I suppose you could use a break for now. We'll continue your training later" He helped me walk back to the castle, and pulled out a chair for me in the dining room.

"You must be thirsty, do you want some water?"

"Sure, thanks" I watched him walk into the kitchen, and laid my head on the table.

"Here you go" I heard him say, and felt the cold glass next to my cheek.

"Thanks" I said, and picked my head up.

"You did well today"

"Really?" I asked, and took a sip of the water.

"Yes; but you could do better"

"I did the best I could do, isn't that what matters?" Ansem looked at me, and laughed slightly.

"For now, yes; but what are you going to do once you see Sora again? He'd beat you in a fight with both hands tied behind his back" With that, I slammed down the cup, and stood up angrily.

"I might not be able to fight, but I'm not weak! I could win against Sora blindfolded!"

"Oh really?" He said quite calmly, and the next second, I was down on my knees, gasping for breath.

"You may be strong against humans, but what of monsters?" He let go of his spell on me, and I fell sideways onto my back to the floor.

"You're still weak Riku, you need more training. Get some rest, and we'll begin again once you're ready" He got up, and walked past me to the door.

"If you ever want to get stronger, then learn to get up by yourself. Quit relying on other people to help you; they won't always be there when you need them" With that, he left the room, leaving me alone and helpless.

After a few minutes of lying there, I finally got up with a surprisingly easy effort.

"How much stronger could that have made me? What a joke…" I said, and laughed to myself, then as I was heading back to my room, I noticed Ansem standing on the upstairs landing, and smiled triumphantly at him.

"You call that a challenge? That wasn't even worth my time"

"I didn't expect you to get up so fast. That was good for your first try, but the next time you might not be so lucky" He said, and then turned and disappeared into his room, closing the door behind him.


End file.
